Aldi announced that it now has 2,000 operating stores in the U.S., with 70 more coming by the end of the year. And later this year, the company plans to open four new stores in Arizona, which will be the grocer’s 37th state.
Aldi embarked on a $5 billion, five-year expansion strategy in 2017 with the goal of expanding from 1,700 to 2,500 stores nationwide – serving 100 million customers per month – by the end of 2022. That same year the company announced a $1.6 billion store refresh project which called for the remodeling and/or expansion of over 1,300 stores by the end of 2020.
In 2018 Aldi expanded its product offerings and announced that 20% of the items in every store would be new compared to the same date one year earlier. It also increased its fresh food selection by 40% by focusing on new produce, meat, organic foods, and easy-to-prepare items.
“We’re pleased to report that the pandemic has not slowed our expansion plans, and Aldi remains on track to becoming the third largest U.S. grocery retailer by store count by the end of 2022,” said Aldi U.S. CEO Jason Hart. “We’ve actually accelerated some of our growth recently, including the rollout of our Curbside Grocery Pickup service to nearly 600 stores to better serve customers.”